Full-fashioned hosiery



Nov. 24, 1931. J. M. BOTTS FULL FASHIONED HOSIERY Filed Sept. 12, 1931 INVENTOR. John M 50115 BY wmja fl ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN M. BUTTS, F JENKINTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

FULL-FASHIONED HOSIERY Application filed September 12, 1931. Serial No. 562,504.

This invention relates to weltless, fullfashioned hosiery and to a method of manufacture therefor.

Customarily, in the manufacture of fullfashioned hosiery on a flat-bed machine, the

" first loops formed are needles, is known.

engaged upon the needles of a welt bar, as the bar designed to place the loops in tension and remove the first fabric portions, as formed, from the knitting After a segment of appreciable extent has been knitted in this mannor, the loops caught upon the needles of the welt bar are transferred from these needles directly .to the needles of the machine, the welt bar is removed, and the fabric is engaged by other .means to. place it in tension; knitting is begun again, and the loops of the folded-over portion are interknitted with the single layer fabric thereafter produced. As can be realized from this short description, manufacture of stockings in this manner involves a considerable time loss for the transfer of the loops from the welt bar to the knitting needles, requiring a complete halt in the knitting operation during the transfer.

A knitting machine, as is well known, consists of a large number of individual sections, each knitting a stocking strip and all the sections being driven directly by the same shaft, and all operated by the same controls. In other. words, when a machine is shut down for the transfer of these loops, it is shut down to account not for one stocking only, but in practically all cases, for ten to twenty stockings. During the complete transfer time, this very expensive machinery remains unproductive. Also, loops involves highly skilled labor, since the tiny individual loops must, with precision, be removed, quickly from the welt bar needles and be placed upon the knitting needles.

Such method of manufacture produces a stockingwhich has two layers of material disposed at that portion which, in use, is required to stretch the most, that is, the thigh portion. The double layer construction of this ortion, in addition to the additional material required and the necessarily greater time for \its production, is responsible formaterially reduced elasticity at this the transference of the 1 portion of the stocking. Attempts have been made to compensate forthis loss of elast1c1ty, as, for instance, by loosening the loops, that is, by adjusting the tension of the thread as it is knitted. This again requlres a halt in the knitting operation to effect t e necessary adjustments and is, at best, a makeshift, not being capable of producing satisfactorily the desired refinement of torture. The texture of the welt, in such stocklngs, because of its double-over form, is always coarser than that of the body of the stocking, even though a finer thread be used to compensate, in part, for the additional thickness.

To eliminate these material defects in present stocking construction, it is an object of the invention to provide a full-fashioned stocking, the fabric for which is knitted upon a flat-bed machine, the stocking produced having no welt, as that term has become commonly known in the art and trade. This stocking, by its method of manufacture, is necessarily of single fabric thickness throughout. Its u per free edge, in all cases, will be locke against unravelling by inherent characteristics of its knitted structure, to give ornamental effects impossible of production in ordinary full-fashioned hosiery.

It is an object of the invention to provide a stocking of the character indicated, the production of which involves the use of an additional section of material, intended to be discarded when the stocking is ready for sale. This section, however, makes possible the formation of certain ornamental efiects not capable of roduction in the knitting of ordinary fullashioned hosiery, and also provides a safeguard for such edge during the processing of the stocking to determine its shaping. i

For the purpose of this invention, a fabric is knitted upon the customary flat-bed machine, producing a flat section the width of which is reduced, as required, for the purpose of fashioning to the shape of the leg the stocking finally produced therefrom. In knitting the fabric, first a thread of low value, such as cotton or the like, is used.

After knitting a number of courses with this thread, the thread used is changed to what will be termed herein finish thread, that is, thread of the type necessary to give to the stocking its desired sheen or appearance. The thread, therefore, would be any desired textile thread such as silk, artificial silk or the like, customarily used in the manufacture of stockings. This final thread may be continued to the full extent of the rest of the fabric, or other steps in the knitting of such fabrics, customaril followed, may be carried out. In one emfi odiment of the invention, there is inserted between the portion knitted of cheap thread and the portion of finish thread, a single loose course of any thread, preferably silk; this course is interlooped between the last course of chea thread and the first course of finish threa The fabric may then be formed into a stocking and be completely processed as, for instance, by dyeing, shaping or like steps after which the single free course may be removed, the courses of cheap thread then, as a unit, separating and leaving the stocking free of anything but the finish thread. The additional course may be eliminated and the cheap thread merely unravelled, after the stocking has been processed. To lock the free edge loops of the stocking, in this particular case, the first course of finish thread is knitted as picot or like self-locking loops so that, on removal of the loose course or after unravelling the ravel-off, an edge, defined by these self-locking loops, will be presented to View.

For the attainment of these objects and of such other objects as may hereinafter appear or be pointed out, I have illustrated an embodiment of my invention in the drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fabric embod the invention and illustrating the use 0 loose course;

Fig. 2 is a view in perspective, illustrating the stocking fabric closed and seamed, except at the loose course and adjacent courses, so that the fabric may be processed;

Fig. 3 is an elevational View, illustrating the arrangement of the fabric in an intermediate stage of processing;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, illustrating an intermediate stage of the removal of the ravel-ofl' material by using the loose course; and

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a portion of the fabric, indicating the interlocking of the loose course with the top course of finish thread.

In the manufacture of stockings in accordance with this invention, a fabric 10 is knitted upon the customary fiat-bed machine having the usual narrowing means for producing reduction in the width of the fabric necessary to fashion the product to the shaping the out the operation of the machine. In knitting this fabric, it is essential that two distinct sections 12 and '14 be formed as parts of the fabric. Section 12 may be knitted from any thread, preferably however, a

cheap one, such as cotton, WhlC may be dis carded without any appreciable loss. A number of courses, suflicient in number to permit obtaining a the stocking thereb for purposes to appear further in this description, are first knitted with this thread. After this section has been completed, there follows the step of knitting section 14 and securing it to ravel-oif section 12 by interknitting the loops of the last and first courses, respectively, of these two sections.

However, in one modification of the invention, as illustrated in Fig. 1, before the knitting of section 14 is commenced, there is interknitted with the last course of ravelofi section 12, a thread 16 to provide a loose course 18. Then the thread of section 14 is introduced, the loose thread 16 being terminated immediately after knitting course 18 and the ends 20 of this thread left extending beyond the fabric. The knitting of section 14 may be continued. Courses 22 of picot or similar ornamental loops, preferably having the efi'ect of interposing a looking stitch such as the picot, to prevent the spreading of the loops when a run extends up to any such course, may be introduced into this section in any well-known manner.

As a preferable form of the invention, the first course of finish thread introduced into section 14 is knitted as a picot course 24, that is, having a type of loop which is laterally displaced and interlocked to make such course self-locking and non-ravelling. Therefore, in the final product, after section 12 has been separated from section 14, the top free edge 26 of the stocking will be determined by a. non-ravelling course.

hold upon, and to grasp After the fabric has been completely knit- I ted, it is removed from the machine and folded over in the customary manner to provide a tubular member 28.

The adjacent I edges 30 are then seamed together, as at 32 will not be sewed together, but the seaming operation will commence immediately below the first course in section 14. Where picot course 24 is provided, the seaming apparatus will be jumped over this course in the same manner as for course, 18.

The seaming having been finished, the stocking may now be subjected to dyeing or like processing, during which. the free edge 26 to be produced will remain protected by ravel-of'f section 12. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, member 28, while wet either from dyeing or b moistening, is placed upon a board 38 to shape. While on board 38, the member is brought to complete dryness so that it will assume the desired flat condition, and so remain thereafter,

It is to be noted that if section 12 were removed before this step in the process, the top free edge of the final product might not be fiat in appearance, but might have a sharp tendency to curl. This tendency may be taken advantage of in those cases where rolling the stockings is desired, but in such cases where a fine finished product having no curlmg tendency is desired, section 12, by its continuance with section 14 through the steps of boarding and up to the final step of packagin g, assures a fine fiat article.

After the member has been removed from the board, its upper edge is determined either by unravelling ravel-ofi section 12 or by grasping one of the ends 20 and removing the loose course 18. In the latter case, the entire ravel-off section 12 will be separated as a unit from section 14. In either case, a free edge will be presented which is finished and incapable of unravelling.

With the removal of the ravel-ofi' material, it is now only necessary to stitch up the one or more courses leftfree during the seaming stocking, the cost of manufacture of which is low compared with customary full-fashioned hosiery, both becauseof the reduction in ma; terial and time consumed in the actual knitting of the fabric, and since no cessation of operation is necessary during its production. The knitting of the fabric, once commenced, is continued without any interruption, -except such as may be necessary for-change of thread, which, as is well-known, takes but a moment. Also, the stocking is made just as elastic at the upper extremity, where elasticity is necessary, as in the rest of the stocking, and, in fact, appreciably more elastic. Furthermore, the texture of the stocking may be the same throughout since there is no definite welt reguiring adjustment of loosee pressed into ness of courses or other features. Finally, extreme elasticity is 'ven to the top edge of the stocking by its inherent construction.

However, I have found that, by making the picot courses 24 and 4.0 of slightly heavier thread, body is 'ven to these courses to withstand the tensi e stresses to which they are subjected in use. I have found the conjunction of two spaced apart picot courses at the upper free edge of the stocking, such as the courses 24 and 40, to be conducive to great elasticity of the edge, while providing a substantial and strong selvage.

Many other changes could be effected in the particular article of manufacture designed, and in the methods of operation set forth, and in'the specific steps or details thereof, without substantially departing from the invention intended to be defined in the claims, the specific description hereinabove being merely to illustrate an operative embodiment of the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- 1. A full-fashioned stocking including leg and top portions, consisting of a continuous single layer flat fashioned fabric blank, knitted other than as rib knit, and made on a flat-bed machine, folded and united along its edges to form the leg and top portions and to leave the top portion with a free ed e of single layer construction, said edge eing bound against unravelling by laterally displaced and interlocked loops.

. 2. A full-fashioned stocking of predetermined fixed length, including leg and top portions consisting of a continuous single layer flat fashioned fabric blank, all made on the same fiat-bed machine of fixed fgauge and all knitted other than as rib knit, olded and united along its edges to form the leg and top portions and to leave the top portion with a free edge of single layer construction, said edge being bound against unravelling by laterally displaced and interlocked loops.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name.

JOHN M. BOTTS. 

